This invention relates to the preparation of organic sulfur compounds. In another aspect, this invention relates to the reaction of unsaturated organic materials, i.e. olefins in which the double bond is conjugated with an activating group such as carbonyl, carboxyl, carboxamide, nitrile, nitro, sulfoxide, and the like in the presence of selected catalysts under high pressure liquid phase conditions. In still another aspect, this invention relates to improved catalyst and process conditions for increasing product yield from unsaturated organic materials. It further relates to a method of preparing alkyl mercaptoalkanoates.
The reaction of hydrogen sulfide with olefinically unsaturated organic compounds is an important process for the production of organic sulfur compounds which are intermediates in the production of compositions having a variety of commercial uses. For example, the reaction of H.sub.2 S with olefinically unsaturated carboxylate in the presence of a catalyst is a known method of preparing alkyl mercaptoalkanoates along with varying amounts of other organic sulfur compounds. Some of the catalysts that are known in the art are fairly effective and offer commercial potential. However, many are either too expensive or not particularly active for high conversion of the carboxylate to the desired mercaptoalkanoate. The present invention relates to improved catalyst systems and process conditions useful for the conversion of olefinically unsaturated carboxylates, esters, and other activated unsaturated organic compounds in high yields to desired organic sulfur-containing products.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an improved process for preparing alkyl mercaptoalkanoates.
Another object of this invention is to provide catalysts active for the conversion of olefinically unsaturated carboxylates to alkyl mercaptoalkanoates.
Another object is to provide improved process and catalysts for conversion of activated unsaturated organic compounds.
Other objects, aspects as well as the several advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification and the appended claims.